I arrived at the Indiana Women’s Prison from Rockville Correctional Facility in February of 2017. Upon my arrival I was not taking anything too seriously and was just feeling my way around and how I was going to survive the last four years of my time. I enrolled  in the cosmetology program, but it only lasted a few months because  my instructor was unexpectedly “gate-locked”, which none of us understood because  she was more than just a teacher. She treated us with dignity and respect and that was frowned upon. In prison,we were numbers not people.

I began to look for something else to do with my time and applied to the PLUS [Purposeful Living Units Serve] program. Three months into the program I asked to get out of it. I could not look at myself in the mirror after just a few weeks of stripping myself to the core. I could not find the word that I would use to describe what I saw: UGLY–MORE THAN UGLY–AND SO MUCH HATE WITH BITTERNESS. I had no idea who I was looking at. My only thought was to put the mask back on and run away. I was good at that, too good, which is exactly why I had ended up where I was. Yet, I stayed in the program and enrolled in a Public Policy class in the education building trying to get involved in anything I could. The director of programming at the prison, Carol Foster, sent a pass for me (during “count time”, so of course I thought I was in trouble). She sat me down and asked me if I would be interested in sitting in on a session to see if it was something that I would want to be a part of because she saw something in me. I took her up on her offer, loved everything I was hearing and spent every minute of my sentence I could in that classroom. 

Eventually I was introduced to Elizabeth Nelson and her IUPUI  students,  Marlan Huesca and Monica Deck. That is when everything changed. I believed Dr. Nelson and everything she said to me with no question and that was not normal for me! Originally, my research focused on  what happened to the babies born from Indiana Girls School. Although we did make a lot of disturbing discoveries, we continued to hit wall after wall, like babies had just disappeared. That is when I ran across Hazel Moon and I knew it in my gut that she had a story I needed to tell. I studied every inch of research I was able to get about Hazel’s life, repeatedly piecing it all together. I found a lot of myself through her story and there is still so much more to tell. Without any of these women, even Hazel and a few not mentioned, I wouldn't be where I am in my life today.

I was released from prison in February of 2020. During my release I chose sober living starting at Seeds of Hope in Indianapolis, ultimately carrying out my recovery at the Oxford house “Orenda Home” in Indianapolis. 

I’m currently working on a bachelor's in criminal justice after juggling between Humanities and Psychology. The work on Hazel Moon and unraveling her story still to this day keeps me on my toes! I know there is more to the story. It’s because of her and because I’m a recovering addict that I’m so passionate about human trafficking. I am sure that there were parts of my past where I was in situations where women and children were being sold, and I just wasn’t even in the correct state of mind to understand my environment because I didn’t even know who I was. I was existing, I was not living!

Today is a different story. I have a brand new grandchild that is the most precious thing in the world to me, along with mending my relationships with my children. That was the most important thing for me before I could go any further with anything else as far as letting myself evolve is concerned.

I hope you enjoy Hazel's story as much as I do, and understand that there’s so much more to be told.